Method and apparatus for sending channel state information using subframe-dependent control channel formats

ABSTRACT

Techniques for reporting channel state information (CSI) for multiple cells (e.g., carriers) using multiple control channel formats are disclosed. A user equipment (UE) may be configured for operation on a plurality of cells. The UE may be configured to periodically report CSI for the plurality of cells and may also report CSI whenever requested. The UE may be configured with a plurality of control channel formats for sending CSI and possibly other control information in different subframes. The plurality of control channel formats may be associated with at least two different capacities. The UE may report CSI for the plurality of cells in the plurality of subframes based on the plurality of control channel formats.

I. CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. § 119

The present application for patent is a continuation of U.S. applicationSer. No. 13/672,148, filed Nov. 8, 2012, which claims priority toProvisional U.S. Application Ser. No. 61/558,318, entitled “METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR SENDING CHANNEL STATE INFORMATION USING SUBFRAME-DEPENDENTCONTROL CHANNEL FORMATS,” filed Nov. 10, 2011, each of which is assignedto the assignee hereof, and expressly incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND I. Field

The present disclosure relates generally to communication, and morespecifically to techniques for sending control information in a wirelesscommunication network.

II. Background

Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide variouscommunication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging,broadcast, etc. These wireless networks may be multiple-access networkscapable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available networkresources. Examples of such multiple-access networks include CodeDivision Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access(TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks,Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA)networks.

A wireless communication network may include a number of base stationsthat can support communication for a number of user equipments (UEs). AUE may communicate with a base station via the downlink and uplink. Thedownlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from thebase station to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to thecommunication link from the UE to the base station.

A wireless communication network may support operation on multiplecarriers. A carrier may refer to a range of frequencies used forcommunication and may be associated with certain characteristics, whichmay be conveyed in signaling information that describes operation on thecarrier. A carrier may also be referred to as a component carrier (CC),a frequency channel, a cell, etc. A base station may send datatransmission on multiple carriers for the downlink (or downlinkcarriers) to a UE. The UE may send control information on a carrier forthe uplink (or any uplink carrier) to support data transmission on themultiple downlink carriers.

SUMMARY

Techniques for reporting channel state information (CSI) for multiplecells with multiple control channel formats are disclosed herein. A UEmay be configured for operation on multiple cells (e.g., multiplecarriers for carrier aggregation). The UE may also be configured toperiodically report CSI for the multiple cells. The CSI reportingconfiguration for each cell may specify which types of CSI to report forthe cell and when to report each type of CSI. The UE may also report CSIwhenever requested. The UE may report CSI for one or more cells in agiven subframe and may have one or more types of CSI to report for eachcell.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the UE may be configured with aplurality of control channel formats for sending control information indifferent subframes in order to avoid or mitigate dropping CSI due toCSI being reported for multiple cells in a subframe. Different controlchannel formats may be associated with different capacities. This wouldenable the UE to send CSI for multiple CCs and/or to send CSI with othercontrol information.

In one design, the UE may identify a plurality of cells for which toreport CSI. The UE may determine a plurality of control channel formatsto use to report the CSI for the plurality of cells in a plurality ofsubframes. The UE may report the CSI for the plurality of cells in theplurality of subframes based on the plurality of control channelformats. In one design, the UE may determine CSI to report for theplurality of cells in a subframe, determine a control channel format touse in the subframe, and send the CSI in the subframe based on thecontrol channel format.

Various aspects and features of the disclosure are described in furtherdetail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a wireless communication network.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary transmission structure for the uplink on onecarrier.

FIG. 3A shows an example of continuous carrier aggregation.

FIG. 3B shows an example of non-continuous carrier aggregation.

FIG. 4 shows an example of carrier aggregation.

FIG. 5 shows data transmission and CSI reporting for multiple carriers.

FIG. 6 shows an example of reporting CSI using different control channelformats.

FIG. 7 shows a process for reporting CSI.

FIG. 8 shows a process for receiving CSI.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of a design of a UE and a base station.

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of another design of a UE and a basestation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The techniques described herein may be used for various wirelesscommunication networks such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA andother wireless networks. The terms “network” and “system” are often usedinterchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such asUniversal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includesWideband CDMA (WCDMA), Time Division Synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA), andother variants of CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856standards. A TDMA network may implement a radio technology such asGlobal System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA network mayimplement a radio technology such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra MobileBroadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct), IEEE 802.16(WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM®, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part ofUniversal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). 3GPP Long TermEvolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), in both frequency divisionduplexing (FDD) and time division duplexing (TDD), are recent releasesof UMTS that use E-UTRA, which employs OFDMA on the downlink and SC-FDMAon the uplink. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A and GSM are described indocuments from an organization named “3rd Generation PartnershipProject” (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from anorganization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2). Thetechniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks andradio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networksand radio technologies. For clarity, certain aspects of the techniquesare described below for LTE, and LTE terminology is used in much of thedescription below.

FIG. 1 shows a wireless communication network 100, which may be an LTEnetwork or some other wireless network. Wireless network 100 may includea number of evolved Node Bs (eNBs) 110 and other network entities. AneNB may be a station that communicates with the UEs and may also bereferred to as a base station, a Node B, an access point, a node, etc.Each eNB 110 may provide communication coverage for a particulargeographic area and may support communication for the UEs located withinthe coverage area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to a coverage areaof an eNB and/or an eNB subsystem serving this coverage area, dependingon the context in which the term is used. An eNB may support one ormultiple (e.g., three) cells.

An eNB may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell,a femto cell, and/or other types of cell. A macro cell may cover arelatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius)and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. Apico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allowunrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell maycover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allowrestricted access by UEs having association with the femto cell (e.g.,UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG)). In the example shown in FIG. 1,eNBs 110 a, 110 b and 110 c may be macro eNBs for macro cells 102 a, 102b and 102 c, respectively. eNB 110 d may be a pico eNB for a pico cell102 d. eNBs 110 e and 110 f may be femto eNBs for femto cells 102 e and102 f, respectively.

Wireless network 100 may also include relays. In the example shown inFIG. 1, a relay 110 r may communicate with eNB 110 a and a UE 120 r inorder to facilitate communication between eNB 110 a and UE 120 r.

A network controller 130 may couple to a set of eNBs and providecoordination and control for these eNBs. Network controller 130 maycommunicate with the eNBs via a backhaul. The eNBs may also communicatewith one another, e.g., directly or indirectly via wireless or wirelinebackhaul.

UEs 120 may be dispersed throughout wireless network 100, and each UEmay be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as a terminal,a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, etc. A UE may be acellular phone, a smartphone, a tablet, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handhelddevice, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL)station, a netbook, a smartbook, etc. A UE may be able to communicatewith macro eNBs, pico eNBs, femto eNBs, relays, etc.

LTE utilizes orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) on thedownlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) onthe uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM partition a frequency range for a carrierinto multiple (N_(FFT)) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonlyreferred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated withdata. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domainwith OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing betweenadjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers(N_(FFT)) may be dependent on the carrier bandwidth. For example,N_(FFT) may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048 for a carrierbandwidth of 1.4, 2.5, 5, 10 or 20 MHz, respectively. The carrierbandwidth may also be partitioned into a number of subbands, and eachsubband may cover a frequency range, e.g., 1.08 MHz.

The transmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink may bepartitioned into units of subframes. Each subframe may have apredetermined duration, e.g., one millisecond (ms), and may bepartitioned into two slots. Each slot may include six symbol periods foran extended cyclic prefix or seven symbol periods for a normal cyclicprefix.

The available time-frequency resources for a carrier may be partitionedinto resource blocks. The number of resource blocks available for acarrier in each slot may be dependent on the carrier bandwidth and mayrange from 6 to 110. Each resource block may cover 12 subcarriers in oneslot and may include a number of resource elements. Each resourceelement may cover one subcarrier in one symbol period and may be used tosend one modulation symbol, which may be a real or complex value.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary transmission structure for the uplink on oneCC in LTE. On the uplink, the available resource blocks may bepartitioned into a data section and a control section. The controlsection may be formed at the two edges of the carrier bandwidth (asshown in FIG. 2) and may have a configurable size. The data section mayinclude all resource blocks not included in the control section. A UEmay be assigned two resource blocks 210 a and 210 b (or possibly morethan two resource blocks) in the control region in two slots of onesubframe to send control information on a Physical Uplink ControlChannel (PUCCH). The two resource blocks may occupy different sets ofsubcarriers when frequency hopping is enabled, as shown in FIG. 2. TheUE may be assigned two resource blocks 220 a and 220 b (or possibly morethan two resource blocks) in the data region in two slots of onesubframe to send only data or both data and control information on aPhysical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

Wireless network 100 may support operation with multiple CCs, which maybe referred to as carrier aggregation (CA) or multi-carrier operation. AUE may be configured with multiple CCs for the downlink and one or moreCCs for the uplink for carrier aggregation. A carrier may also bereferred to as a component carrier (CC), a cell, etc. The terms“carrier”, “CC”, and “cell” are used interchangeably herein. A carrierused for the downlink may be referred to as a downlink CC, and a carrierused for the uplink may be referred to as an uplink CC. An eNB maytransmit data and control information on one or more downlink CCs to theUE. The UE may transmit data and control information on one or moreuplink CCs to the eNB.

FIG. 3A shows an example of continuous carrier aggregation. K CCs may beavailable for communication and may be adjacent to each other, where Kmay be any integer value.

FIG. 3B shows an example of non-continuous carrier aggregation. K CCsmay be available for communication and may be separate from each other.

FIG. 4 shows an example of carrier aggregation. A UE may be configuredwith K downlink CCs 1 through K and M uplink CCs 1 through M, where K>1and M≥1 for carrier aggregation. In LTE Release 10, the UE may beconfigured with up to five CCs for each of the downlink and uplink forcarrier aggregation. Each CC may have a bandwidth of up to 20 MHz andmay be backward compatible with LTE Release 8. The UE may thus beconfigured with up to 100 MHz for up to five CCs on each of the downlinkand uplink.

In one design, one downlink CC may be designated as a downlink primaryCC (PCC), and each remaining downlink CC may be referred to as adownlink secondary CC (SCC). Similarly, one uplink CC may be designatedas an uplink PCC, and each remaining uplink CC may be referred to as anuplink SCC. The downlink PCC and the uplink PCC may be semi-staticallyconfigured for the UE by higher layers such as Radio Resource Control(RRC). An eNB may transmit certain information on the downlink PCC tothe UE, and the UE may transmit certain information on the uplink PCC tothe eNB. In one design, the UE may transmit the PUSCH and/or PUCCH onthe uplink PCC and may transmit only the PUSCH on an uplink SCC.

Wireless network 100 may support data transmission with hybrid automaticretransmission (HARQ) in order to improve reliability. For HARQ, atransmitter may send an initial transmission of a packet of data and maysend one or more additional transmissions of the packet, if needed,until the packet is decoded correctly by a receiver, or the maximumnumber of transmissions of the packet has occurred, or some othertermination condition is encountered. A packet may also be referred toas a transport block, a codeword, a data block, etc. After eachtransmission of the packet, the receiver may decode all receivedtransmissions of the packet to attempt to recover the packet and maysend an acknowledgement (ACK) if the packet is decoded correctly or anegative acknowledgement (NACK) if the packet is decoded in error. Thetransmitter may send another transmission of the packet if a NACK isreceived and may terminate transmission of the packet if an ACK isreceived. The transmitter may process (e.g., encode and modulate) thepacket based on a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), which may beselected such that the packet can be decoded correctly with highprobability after a target number of transmissions of the packet. Thistarget number of transmissions may be referred to as a targettermination.

A UE may report channel state information (CSI) for one or more downlinkCCs to an eNB. CSI may include channel quality indicator (CQI),precoding matrix indicator (PMI), precoding type indicator (PTI), rankindicator (RI), and/or other information. RI for a downlink CC mayindicate the number of layers (i.e., L layers, where L≥1) to use fortransmission of data on the downlink CC. Each layer may be viewed as aspatial channel. PTI for a downlink CC may indicate a precoding typefeedback (e.g., wideband versus subband). PMI for a downlink CC mayindicate a precoding matrix or vector to use for precoding data prior totransmission on the downlink CC. CQI for a downlink CC may indicate achannel quality for each of at least one packet (e.g., P packets, whereP≥1) to send on the downlink CC.

A UE may be configured to periodically send CSI for one or more downlinkCCs to an eNB. CSI that is sent periodically may be referred to asperiodic CSI (P-CSI). In one design, periodic CSI reporting may beseparately configured for each downlink CC, and the UE may havedifferent P-CSI reporting configurations for different downlink CCs. TheP-CSI reporting configuration for each downlink CC may indicate whichtypes of CSI (e.g., CQI, PMI, PTI, and/or RI) to report for thatdownlink CC, how often to report each type of CSI, the subframes inwhich to report each type of CSI, etc. In another design, a P-CSIreporting configuration may be applicable for a group of downlink CCs.In any case, the UE may periodically send CSI for each downlink CC basedon the P-CSI reporting configuration applicable for that downlink CC.The UE may also be requested to send CSI for one or more downlink CCs ina given subframe via a CSI request. CSI sent in response to a CSIrequest may be referred to as aperiodic CSI (A-CSI).

FIG. 5 shows a scheme for data transmission on multiple (K) downlink CCswith HARQ and CSI reporting on one uplink CC. A UE may periodicallyestimate the channel quality of different downlink CCs for an eNB andmay determine CSI for each downlink CC. The UE may periodically send CSIfor each downlink CC based on a P-CSI reporting configuration for thatdownlink CC. The UE may also report CSI for each downlink CC for whichCSI is requested.

The eNB may receive CSI for all downlink CCs from the UE. The eNB mayuse the CSI and/or other information to select the UE for datatransmission, to schedule the UE on one or more downlink CCs and/or theuplink CC, and to select one or more modulation and coding scheme (MCSs)for each CC on which the UE is scheduled. The eNB may process (e.g.,encode and modulate) one or more packets for each scheduled downlink CCbased on one or more MCSs selected for that downlink CC. The eNB maythen send a transmission of one or more packets on each scheduleddownlink CC to the UE.

The UE may receive and decode the transmission of one or more packets oneach scheduled downlink CC. The UE may determine whether each packet oneach scheduled downlink CC is decoded correctly or in error. The UE mayobtain an ACK for each packet decoded correctly and a NACK for eachpacket decoded in error. The UE may send ACK/NACK comprising anycombination of ACKs and/or NACKs obtained for the packets received onall scheduled downlink CCs. The eNB may receive the ACK/NACK from theUE, may terminate transmission of each packet for which an ACK isreceived, and may send another transmission for each packet for which aNACK is received. The UE may also transmit data on the uplink CC to theeNB when there is data to send and the UE is scheduled for datatransmission on the uplink CC.

As shown in FIG. 5, the eNB may send control information (e.g., adownlink grant and/or an uplink grant) on a Physical Downlink ControlChannel (PDCCH) on a downlink CC to the UE. The eNB may send data on aPhysical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) on a downlink CC to the UE. TheUE may send only control information (e.g., CSI and/or ACK/NACK) on thePUCCH on an uplink CC to the eNB. The UE may send only data or both dataand control information on the PUSCH on an uplink CC to the eNB.

As shown in FIG. 5, the eNB may send a downlink (DL) grant for a datatransmission on each downlink CC to the UE. The downlink grant mayinclude various parameters to use to receive and decode the datatransmission on a particular downlink CC. The eNB may also send anuplink (UL) grant for a data transmission from the UE on an uplink CC.The uplink grant may include various parameters to use to generate andsend the data transmission on the uplink CC. The uplink grant may alsoinclude a CQI request. In this case, the UE may send CSI along with dataon the uplink CC.

As shown in FIG. 5, the UE may transmit data and/or control information,or neither, in any given subframe. The control information may includeCSI, ACK/NACK, a scheduling request (SR), some other information, or acombination thereof. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the UE may sendP-CSI on the PUCCH in subframe t, send ACK/NACK and data on the PUSCH insubframe t+4, send CSI and data on the PUSCH in subframes t+5 and t+10,send CSI, ACK/NACK, and data on the PUSCH in subframe t+8, and sendACK/NACK on the PUCCH in subframe t+11.

In general, the UE may be configured with any number of downlink CCs andany number of uplink CCs for carrier aggregation. In one design, up tofive downlink CCs may be mapped to a single uplink CC for 5:1 DL-to-ULCC mapping. In this design, the uplink CC may support transmission ofcontrol information for up to five downlink CCs. Data and controlinformation may be sent on the uplink in various manners. In one design,the UE may send control information (e.g., CSI, ACK/NACK, and/or SR) onthe PUCCH on the uplink PCC (but not an uplink SCC). The UE may sendcontrol information and data on the PUSCH on any uplink CC on which theUE is scheduled for data transmission. Data and control information mayalso be sent on the uplink in other manners.

The UE may be configured to periodically report CSI for K downlink CCs.The CSI reporting configuration for each downlink CC may specify aparticular CSI reporting type to send for that downlink CC in eachreporting subframe. A reporting subframe is a subframe in which P-CSI isreported. A number of CSI reporting types may be supported and may beprioritized as shown in Table 1. The CSI reporting types in Table 1 arereferred to as “PUCCH reporting types” and are described in 3GPP TS36.213, which is publicly available. In Table 1, priority 1 is thehighest priority, and priority 3 is the lowest priority.

TABLE 1 CSI Reporting Types CSI Reporting Type Priority CSI to Report .. . 1 3 Subband CQI  1a 3 Subband CQI and second PMI 2 2 Wideband CQIand PMI  2a 1 Wideband CQI and first PMI  2b 2 Wideband CQI and secondPMI  2c 2 Wideband CQI, first PMI, and second PMI 3 1 RI 4 2 WidebandCQI 5 1 RI and first PMI 6 1 RI and first PTI

In one design, for P-CSI reporting, the K downlink CCs may be assignedpriorities in a given reporting subframe based on the priorities of theCSI reporting types for the K downlink CCs in the reporting subframe.For example, downlink CCs with CSI reporting types 2a, 3, 5 and 6 mayhave the highest priority, downlink CCs with CSI reporting types 2, 2b,2c and 4 may have the second highest priority, and downlink CCs with CSIreporting types 1 and 1a may have the lowest priority, as shown inTable 1. The priorities of the downlink CCs may change from reportingsubframe to reporting subframe. If multiple downlink CCs have the samepriority based on their CSI reporting types, then these downlink CCs maybe further prioritized based on higher layers signaling (e.g., RRCsignaling). The K downlink CCs may also be prioritized in other manners.For example, the downlink PCC may have the highest priority, and thedownlink SCC(s) may have lower priorities. In one design, the samepriority rules may apply to the K downlink CCs regardless of whether CSIis sent on the PUCCH or PUSCH.

The UE may be scheduled to report P-CSI for zero, one, or multipledownlink CCs in each subframe based on the P-CSI reportingconfigurations for the K downlink CCs. The UE may be able to reportP-CSI for at most one downlink CC in each subframe. If the UE isscheduled to report P-CSI for multiple downlink CCs in a given subframe,then the UE may report P-CSI for the downlink CC with the highestpriority and may drop (i.e., not report) P-CSI for the remainingdownlink CCs. In this case, the UE may report P-CSI for only onedownlink CC in a given subframe and may drop the remaining downlink CCswhen there is a collision between multiple downlink CCs for which P-CSIis scheduled to be reported in the subframe.

The UE may send one P-CSI report for the highest priority downlink CC ina given subframe. The UE may be scheduled to report different types ofCSI (e.g., RI, wideband CQI/PMI, subband CQI, etc.) for the highestpriority downlink CC. In this case, the UE may select which type of CSIto report based on rules described in 3GPP TS 36.213.

The UE may report CSI whenever requested, e.g., as shown in FIG. 5. ACSI request may be included in an uplink grant, which may be sent in acommon search space for the UE. A CSI request may also be sent to the UEin other manners. The UE may determine which downlink CC(s) to reportCSI based on a CSI request in various manners.

In one design, a CSI request may include two bits, which may be definedas follows:

-   -   “00”—indicates CSI is not requested,    -   “01”—indicates CSI is requested for one or more downlink CCs        that are linked to an uplink CC on which CSI is sent,    -   “10”—indicates CSI is requested for a first set of downlink CCs        configured by RRC, and    -   “11”—indicates CSI is requested for a second set of downlink CCs        configured by RRC.

Each downlink CC may be linked to one uplink CC, e.g., based on RRCsignaling sent to the UE, or a system information block (SIB) broadcastto all UEs, or signaling sent in other manners. The UE may also beconfigured with a first set of downlink CCs and possibly a second set ofdownlink CCs for CSI reporting, e.g., via RRC signaling. Each set mayinclude up to 5 downlink CCs. If the CSI request is “01”, then the UEmay determine the downlink CC(s) linked to the uplink CC carrying theCSI report and may report CSI for the linked downlink CC(s). If the CSIrequest is “10” or “11”, then the UE may report CSI for the first orsecond set of downlink CCs configured for the UE. The CSI request maythus indicate one or more specific downlink CCs for which CSI isrequested.

In another design, a CSI request may include one bit, which may bedefined as follows:

-   -   “0”—indicates CSI is not requested, and    -   “1”—indicates CSI is requested for a set of downlink CCs        configured by RRC.

The UE may be scheduled to report P-CSI for multiple downlink CCs in agiven subframe. In this case, the UE may report P-CSI for the highestpriority downlink CC and may drop the P-CSI for the remaining downlinkCCs, as described above. The UE may also be scheduled to report bothP-CSI and A-CSI in a given subframe. In this case, the UE may reportA-CSI as requested and may drop P-CSI.

The UE may frequently drop P-CSI for various reasons. First, the UE maydrop P-CSI whenever there is collision between multiple downlink CCs,since the UE may be able to report P-CSI for only one downlink CC in agiven subframe. Second, the UE may drop P-CSI whenever there iscollision between multiple types of CSI (e.g., RI and CQI) to report fora downlink CC in a given subframe. Third, the UE may drop P-CSI wheneverthere is collision between P-CSI and ACK/NACK for multiple downlink CCsin a given subframe. The UE may need to send ACK/NACK for multipledownlink CCs as well as P-CSI on the PUCCH and may not be configured forsimultaneous transmission of the PUCCH and PUSCH. The UE may be able tosimultaneously send P-CSI and ACK/NACK for one downlink CC on the PUCCHif a parameter simultaneousAckNackAndCQI is set to “True” for the UE.However, this may not be applicable when the UE has ACK/NACK formultiple downlink CCs. The UE may then drop P-CSI, regardless of whetherthe UE is capable of supporting simultaneous transmission of ACK/NACKand CSI. The UE may also drop P-CSI due to other reasons.

Frequently dropping P-CSI may result in long reporting periodicity anddelay for P-CSI, which may adversely impact scheduling of downlink datatransmission and downlink throughput. The adverse impact due tofrequently dropping P-CSI may be mitigated by requesting A-CSI moreoften. However, higher overhead would be incurred in order to send CSIrequests on the PDCCH. The higher overhead may be undesirable.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, a UE may be configured with aplurality of PUCCH formats for sending control information in differentsubframes in order to reduce or avoid dropping P-CSI due to collisions.Different PUCCH formats may be associated with different capacities.This would enable the UE to send P-CSI for multiple downlink CCs, tosend P-CSI and ACK/NACK for multiple downlink CCs, etc.

The UE may have different CSI reporting configurations for the Kdownlink CCs, as described above. Depending on the CSI reportingconfigurations and the number of downlink CCs for the UE, there may besome subframes without any collision with respect to P-CSI, somesubframes with collision between two downlink CCs for P-CSI, somesubframes with collision between three downlink CCs for P-CSI, etc. Acollision between multiple downlink CCs for P-CSI may occur when the UEis scheduled to report P-CSI for these downlink CCs in one subframe. Thecollision between multiple downlink CCs may be for (i) the samereporting type, with the same type of CSI to be reported for themultiple downlink CCs, or (ii) different reporting types, with differenttypes of CSI to be reported for the multiple downlink CCs. In any case,collisions between multiple downlink CCs for P-CSI in differentsubframes may be ascertained based on the CSI reporting configurationsfor the K downlink CCs.

In one design, the UE may be configured with multiple PUCCH formats ofdifferent capacities. These PUCCH formats may or may not be associatedwith different multiplexing capabilities. Multiplexing capability refersto the ability to send information from different UEs using the same setof resources. In one design, the UE may be configured with two or moreof the PUCCH formats listed in Table 2. Other PUCCH formats may also besupported.

TABLE 2 PUCCH Formats Capacity PUCCH (# of Format Info Bits) Description 1a 1 Used to send 1-bit ACK/NACK on PUCCH.  1b 2 Used to send 2-bitACK/NACK on PUCCH. 2 10 Used to send up to 10 bits of CSI on PUCCH.  2a11 Used to send up to 10 bits of CSI and 1-bit ACK/NACK on PUCCH.  2b 12Used to send up to 10 bits of CSI and 2-bit ACK/NACK on PUCCH. 3 21 Usedto send up to 21 bits of CSI and/or ACK/NACK on PUCCH. 4  N Used to sendup to N bits of CSI and/or ACK/NACK (N > 21) on PUCCH or PUSCH in onepair of resource blocks. 5 2N Used to send up to 2N bits of CSI and/orACK/NACK on PUCCH or PUSCH in two pairs of resource blocks.

PUCCH formats 1a to 3 are described in 3GPP TS 36.213. For PUCCH format4, physical layer parameters (e.g., coding, modulation, etc.) forsending control information may be the same as, or similar to, those fortraffic data sent on PUSCH. For example, a set of information bits maybe encoded to generate a set of code bits, which may be mapped to a setof modulation symbols (e.g., based on QPSK). The modulation symbols maybe mapped to resource elements in one pair of resource blocks in thecontrol region or the data region. The capacity of PUCCH format 4 may bedependent on the code rate and modulation scheme used for PUCCH format 4and the number of resource elements available to send controlinformation in the pair of resource blocks. PUCCH format 5 may besimilar to PUCCH format 4 but may be sent on more resource blocks, e.g.,twice the number of resource blocks. PUCCH formats 4 and 5 may bereferred to as PUSCH-like formats.

In one design, control information may be sent on the PUCCH with PUCCHformats 1a to 3. Control information (and no data) may be sent on thePUSCH with PUCCH formats 4 and 5. In another design, control informationmay be sent on the PUCCH with PUCCH formats 1a to 5.

In general, a UE may be configured with Q PUCCH formats of differentcapacities, where Q may be any integer value greater than one. One PUCCHformat may be used in each reporting subframe and may be selected basedon one or more criteria. In one design, a PUCCH format may be selectedfor each reporting subframe based on the total payload size of CSIand/or other control information to send in the subframe. For example, afirst PUCCH format may be used in subframes without any P-CSI collision,a second PUCCH format may be used in subframes with P-CSI collision anda total payload size of less than a first threshold, a third PUCCHformat may be used in subframes with P-CSI collision and a total payloadsize of less than a second threshold, etc. A PUCCH format may beselected for each reporting subframe based on other criteria and/orrules. For example, a PUCCH format may be selected for each reportingsubframe based on whether P-CSI collision occurred, the CSI reportingtype(s) for each downlink CC to be reported in the subframe, thecapacities of the available PUCCH formats, etc.

In one scheme, a PUCCH format may be selected for each reportingsubframe based on P-CSI collision, i.e., based on whether there iscollision among downlink CCs to report CSI in the subframe. In onedesign, PUCCH format 3 may be selected for subframes in which there isno P-CSI collision among downlink CCs. P-CSI and ACK/NACK may bemultiplexed and sent on the PUCCH using PUCCH format 3. PUCCH format 4may be selected for subframes in which there is P-CSI collision amongdownlink CCs. In another design, PUCCH format 2/2a/2b may be selectedfor subframes in which there is no P-CSI collision among downlink CCs.P-CSI and 1 or 2 bits of ACK/NACK may be multiplexed and sent on thePUCCH using PUCCH format 2/2a/2b. PUCCH format 4 may be selected forsubframes in which there is P-CSI collision among downlink CCs.

In another scheme, a PUCCH format may be selected for each reportingsubframe based on the number of downlink CCs to report CSI and/or thetotal payload size for the subframe. In subframes with no P-CSIcollision, PUCCH format 3 may be used to send P-CSI for one downlink CCand possibly ACK/NACK for all K downlink CCs. In subframes with P-CSIcollision but the total number of colliding downlink CCs or the totalpayload size is sufficiently small (e.g., less than a predeterminedthreshold), PUCCH format 3 may be used to send P-CSI and possiblyACK/NACK for all downlink CCs. In subframes with P-CSI collision and thetotal number of colliding downlink CCs or the total payload size issufficiently large (e.g., greater than the predetermined threshold),PUCCH format 4 may be used to send P-CSI and possibly ACK/NACK for alldownlink CCs.

A PUCCH format may also be selected for each reporting subframe in othermanners, e.g., based on other criterion, other combinations of criteria,other rules, etc. In one design, the UE and its serving eNB may both beable to determine which PUCCH format to use in each reporting subframebased on the P-CSI reporting configurations for the UE for all downlinkCCs and the specific criteria and/or rules for selecting the PUCCHformat in each reporting subframe. The UE may autonomously determine aPUCCH format to use for each reporting subframe. The UE may send CSI forall downlink CCs and possibly other control information using thedetermined PUCCH format. The serving eNB may similarly determine thePUCCH format used by the UE in each reporting subframe. The serving eNBmay receive CSI for all downlink CCs and possibly other controlinformation from the UE based on the determined PUCCH format.

FIG. 6 shows an example of reporting CSI for K downlink CCs usingdifferent PUCCH formats. A UE may have different CSI reportingconfigurations for the K downlink CCs. The CSI reporting configurationfor downlink CC 1 may direct the UE to send CSI reporting type 5 (RI andfirst PMI) in subframe t1, CSI reporting type 1a (subband CQI and secondPMI) in subframe t3, CSI reporting type 5 in subframe t4, CSI reportingtype 1a in subframe t5, etc. The CSI reporting configuration fordownlink CC 2 may direct the UE to send CSI reporting type 6 (RI andPTI) in subframe t1, CSI reporting type 2a (wideband CQI) in subframet5, etc. The CSI reporting configuration for downlink CC K may directthe UE to send CSI reporting type 3 (only RI) in subframe t2, CSIreporting type 2 (wideband CQI and PMI) in subframe t5, etc. The UE mayreceive a CSI request for all K downlink CCs in subframe t3.

In the example shown in FIG. 6, the UE may be configured with PUCCHformats 3 and 4 for sending CSI and possibly ACK/NACK. The UE may usePUCCH format 3 to send (i) P-CSI for downlink CCs 1 and 2 in subframe t1and (ii) P-CSI for only downlink CC K in subframe t2. The UE may usePUCCH format 4 having higher capacity to send A-CSI for all K downlinkCCs and possibly P-CSI for downlink CC 1 in subframe t3. The UE may usePUCCH format 3 to send P-CSI for downlink CC 1 in subframe t4. The UEmay use PUCCH format 4 to send P-CSI for downlink CCs 1, 2 and K insubframe t5. The UE may thus use different PUCCH formats in differentreporting subframes to send P-CSI and/or A-CSI for all downlink CCs ofinterest.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary design in which different PUCCH formats areused in different CSI reporting subframes depending on the P-CSI and/orA-CSI to report. Different PUCCH formats may also be selected based onother criteria such as whether there is ACK/NACK to send, the capacitiesof different PUCCH formats, the number of CCs for which to send CSIand/or ACK/NACK, some other criteria, or a combination thereof. In onedesign, PUCCH format 2/2a/2b may be selected to send only ACK/NACK, andPUCCH format 3 (or PUCCH format 4) may be selected to send only CSI orboth CSI and ACK/NACK.

In one design, each PUCCH format may be associated with specificresources to use to send control information based on that PUCCH format.PUCCH format 1a to 3 may be associated with resources for the PUCCH, andPUCCH formats 4 and 5 may be associated with resources for the PUSCH.The PUCCH resources for PUCCH formats 1a to 3 may be explicitly orimplicitly conveyed, e.g., may be linked to the PDCCH carrying a grant.The PUSCH resources for PUCCH formats 4 and 5 may be implicitly conveyed(e.g., linked to the PUCCH) or explicitly conveyed (e.g.,semi-statically configured for the UE). The resources for the supportedPUCCH formats may also be defined and conveyed in other manners.

In one design, the PUCCH format may vary from reporting subframe toreporting subframe in a semi-static manner. The specific PUCCH format touse in a given reporting subframe may be deterministic and may beascertained based on the P-CSI reporting configurations, the number ofactivated downlink CCs, etc. The P-CSI reporting configurations may bedefined by higher layers (e.g., RRC). The UE and the serving eNB may bealigned with respect to which PUCCH format to use for CSI feedback in agiven subframe. The eNB may have the flexibility to configure differentUEs such that PUCCH resources for different PUCCH formats can be sharedamong different UEs in a time division multiplexed (TDM) manner. The eNBmay also have the flexibility of reusing the reserved but unused PUCCHresources (which are known to the eNB) for PUSCH transmissions by otherUEs

In another design, the PUCCH format may vary from reporting subframe toreporting subframe in a more dynamic manner. For example, the PUCCHformat to use in a given reporting subframe may be determined based onthe P-CSI reporting configurations, the number of activated downlinkCCs, the presence of absence of ACK/NACK feedback, the number ofACK/NACK bits to send, the downlink CCs for which the ACK/NAK bits areintended, etc. In this design, the UE may select a PUCCH format for areporting subframe based on the applicable criteria. The eNB may performdecoding for different possible PUCCH formats, e.g., to account fordifferent numbers of ACK/NACK bits determined by the UE and the eNB.

The techniques described herein may be used to send control information(e.g., CSI and/or ACK/NACK) for carrier aggregation, as described above.The techniques can support reporting of CSI for one or more downlink CCsin a given subframe, so that dropping of P-CSI may be reduced oravoided.

The techniques may also be used to send control information forcoordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission. For CoMP, multiple cellsmay coordinate to transmit data to one or more UEs on the sametime-frequency resource such that the signals from the multiple cellscan be combined at a target UE and/or inter-cell interference can bereduced at an interfered UE. Joint processing, dynamic switching, orcoordinated beamforming may be used for CoMP transmission. For jointprocessing, multiple cells may transmit data to one or more UEs withprecoding vectors at different cells being selected to achievebeamforming gain at a target UE and/or interference reduction at one ormore interfered UEs served by one or more neighbor cells. For dynamicswitching, one cell may transmit data to a target UE in one subframe,while another cell may transmit data to the same UE in a differentsubframe. For coordinated beamforming, a single cell may transmit datato a target UE with one or more precoding vectors selected for the cellby trading between beamforming gain to the target UE and interferencereduction to one or more interfered UEs. For joint processing, dynamicswitching, and coordinated beamforming, the precoding vector(s) used byone or more cells to transmit data to the target UE may be selected byconsidering the wireless channels of the target UE as well as thewireless channels of other UE(s) in order to reduce inter-cellinterference.

To support CoMP, a UE may have a CoMP measurement set, which may includeall cells that can be measured by the UE and can participate in CoMPtransmission to the UE. These cells may belong to the same eNB ordifferent eNBs and may be selected based on channel gain, pathloss,received signal strength, received signal quality, etc. For example, theCoMP measurement set may include cells with channel gain or receivedsignal quality above a threshold. The UE may determine and report CSIfor the cells in the CoMP measurement set. In one design, the UE mayhave different P-CSI reporting configurations for different cells in theCoMP measurement set. The UE may report P-CSI for one or more cells in agiven subframe based on the P-CSI reporting configurations for thesecells. The UE may also report A-CSI for one or more cells in a givensubframe when requested. With regard to CSI feedback, multiple cells ina CoMP measurement set may be analogous to multiple carriers in carrieraggregation.

The techniques described herein may also be used to send controlinformation in other scenarios in which multiple P-CSI reportingconfigurations are present. These P-CSI reporting configurations may befor different carriers in carrier aggregation, different cells in CoMP,different transmitter entities in a relay scenario, etc. A UE may beconfigured with different PUCCH formats in different reportingsubframes. The PUCCH format for each reporting subframe may be selected,e.g., based on the criteria and/or rules described above.

In one design, the techniques may be selectively applied in certainscenarios but not other scenarios. For example, the techniques may beapplied when a UE is configured with (i) at least three downlink CCs inan FDD system or (ii) at least two downlink CCs in a TDD system. Asanother example, the techniques may be applied for only UEs that cansupport certain PUCCH formats (e.g., PUCCH format 3), or only UEscapable of aggregating at least three downlink CCs for FDD or at leasttwo downlink CCs for TDD, or UEs defined in other manners.

The techniques described herein may provide various advantages. First,P-CSI may be dropped less frequently, or not at all, by using differentPUCCH formats in different reporting subframes. Second, overhead to sendcontrol information on the uplink may be reduced by using differentPUCCH formats in different reporting subframes. A suitable PUCCH formatmay be selected for each reporting subframe based on the amount ofcontrol information to send in the subframe. In contrast, using a singlePUCCH format (e.g., PUCCH format 3) with a small capacity may result infrequent dropping of P-CSI. Using a single PUCCH format with a largecapacity (e.g., PUCCH format 4) may result in high overhead and waste ofresources when the large capacity is not required.

FIG. 7 shows a design of a process 700 for reporting CSI. Process 700may be performed by a UE (as described below) or by some other entity.The UE may identify a plurality of cells for which to report CSI by theUE (block 712). In one design, for carrier aggregation, the plurality ofcells may correspond to a plurality of carriers (e.g., up to fivecarriers) configured for the UE and on which the UE can be scheduled fordata transmission. In another design, for CoMP, the plurality of cellsmay correspond to a plurality of transmitting entities that can transmitdata to the UE.

The UE may determine a plurality of control channel formats to use toreport the CSI for the plurality of cells in a plurality of subframes(block 714). The plurality of control channel formats may correspond tothe PUCCH formats described above. The plurality of control channelformats may be associated with at least two different capacities. In onedesign, the plurality of control channel formats may include a firstcontrol channel format for the PUCCH (e.g., PUCCH format 3) and a secondcontrol channel format for the PUSCH (e.g., PUCCH format 4). In anotherdesign, the plurality of control channel formats may include multiplecontrol channel formats for the PUCCH (e.g., PUCCH format 2/2a/2b andPUCCH format 3).

The UE may report the CSI for the plurality of cells in the plurality ofsubframes based on the plurality of control channel formats (block 716).In one design, the UE may determine which CSI to report for theplurality of cells in a subframe, determine a control channel format touse in the subframe, and send the CSI in the subframe based on thecontrol channel format.

In one design of block 714, the UE may determine a plurality of CSIreporting configurations for the UE for the plurality of cells. A CSIreporting configuration for each cell may indicate a schedule ofperiodic reporting of at least one type of CSI for the cell. The UE maydetermine CSI to report for the plurality of cells in each of theplurality of subframes based on the plurality of CSI reportingconfigurations. The UE may ascertain the plurality of control channelformats to use based on the CSI to report for the plurality of cells ineach subframe. In another design, the UE may ascertain the plurality ofcontrol channel formats to use based on ACK/NACK for the plurality ofcells, or capacities of the plurality of control channel formats, or thenumber of cells configured for CSI reporting by the UE, and/or otherfactors.

The plurality of control channel formats may comprise first and secondcontrol channel formats (e.g., PUCCH format 2/2a/2b and 3, or PUCCHformats 3 and 4). In one design, the UE may select the first controlchannel format if a total payload size for the CSI to report in asubframe is less than a threshold. The UE may select the second controlchannel format if the total payload size for CSI to report in thesubframe is greater than the threshold. In another design, the UE mayselect the first control channel format if CSI is reported for only onecell. The UE may select the second control channel format if CSI isreported for at least two cells. The UE may also select the first orsecond control channel format based on other criteria and/or rules. Theplurality of control channel formats may comprise one or more additionalcontrol channel formats. The UE may then select a suitable controlchannel format for a subframe from among all available control channelformats.

FIG. 8 shows a design of a process 800 for receiving CSI. Process 800may be performed by a base station/eNB (as described below) or by someother entity. The base station may identify a plurality of cells forwhich to receive CSI from a UE (block 812). In one design, for carrieraggregation, the plurality of cells may correspond to a plurality ofcarriers (e.g., up to five carriers) configured for the UE and on whichthe UE can be scheduled for data transmission. In another design, forCoMP, the plurality of cells may correspond to a plurality oftransmitting entities that can transmit data to the UE for CoMPtransmission.

The base station may determine a plurality of control channel formatsused by the UE to send the CSI for the plurality of cells in a pluralityof subframes (block 814). The base station may receive the CSI for theplurality of cells sent by the UE in the plurality of subframes based onthe plurality of control channel formats (block 816). In one design, thebase station may determine CSI to be reported by the UE for theplurality of cells in a subframe, determine a control channel formatused by the UE in the subframe, and receive the CSI in the subframebased on the control channel format.

In one design of block 814, the base station may determine a pluralityof CSI reporting configurations for the UE for the plurality of cells.The base station may determine CSI to be reported for the plurality ofcells by the UE in each of the plurality of subframes based on theplurality of CSI reporting configurations. The base station mayascertain the plurality of control channel formats used by the UE basedon the CSI to be reported by the UE in each subframe. In another design,the base station may ascertain the plurality of control channel formatsused by the UE based on ACK/NACK for the plurality of cells, orcapacities of the plurality of control channel formats, or the number ofcells configured for CSI reporting by the UE, and/or other factors.

The plurality of control channel formats may comprise first and secondcontrol channel formats (e.g., PUCCH formats 3 and 4). In one design,the base station may select the first control channel format if a totalpayload size for the CSI to be reported in a subframe is less than athreshold. The base station may select the second control channel formatif the total payload size for the CSI to be reported in the subframe isgreater than the threshold. In another design, the base station mayselect the first control channel format if CSI is reported for only onecell. The base station may select the second control channel format ifCSI is reported for at least two cells. The base station may also selectthe first or second control channel format based on other criteriaand/or rules. The plurality of control channel formats may comprise oneor more additional control channel formats. The base station may thenselect a suitable control channel format for a subframe from among allavailable control channel formats.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of a design of a UE 120 x and a basestation/eNB 110 x, which may be one of the UEs and one of the eNBs inFIG. 1. At UE 120 x, a receiver 910 may receive signals transmitted bybase stations and/or other transmitting entities. A module 912 mayreceive reference signals and may make measurements based on thereference signals. The reference signals may include cell-specificreference signals (CRS), CSI reference signals (CSI-RS), etc. A module914 may determine CSI (e.g., CQI, PMI, CDI, PTI, RI, etc.) for cells(e.g., carriers) of interest based on the measurements. A module 916 maydetermine a PUCCH format to use to send CSI and/or other information ineach subframe. Module 918 may report CSI for all cells in a subframebased on the PUCCH format to use in the subframe. A transmitter 920 maytransmit the CSI for all cells and possibly other information.

A module 922 may determine configuration of cells for UE 120 x, e.g.,configuration of CCs for carrier aggregation, configuration oftransmitting entities for CoMP, etc. A module 924 may determine aperiodic CSI reporting configuration for each cell configured for UE 120x. A module 926 may detect for CSI requests sent to UE 120 x. Module 916may determine the PUCCH format for each subframe based on the periodicCSI configurations for all cells, the CSI requests, etc. The variousmodules within UE 120 x may operate as described above. Acontroller/processor 928 may direct the operation of various moduleswithin UE 120 x. A memory 930 may store data and program codes for UE120 x.

At base station 110 x, a module 952 may generate reference signals. Amodule 950 may send CSI requests to UE 120 x and/or other UEs. Atransmitter 954 may transmit the reference signals, the CSI requests,other control information, and data to UEs. A receiver 956 may receivesignals transmitted by UE 120 x and other UEs. A module 958 may receivemessages from UE 120 x and extract CSI for cells configured for UE 120x. A module 960 may determine a PUCCH format used by UE 120 x forsending CSI and/or other information in each subframe.

A module 962 may determine configuration of cells for UE 120 x, e.g.,configuration of CCs for carrier aggregation, configuration oftransmitting entities for CoMP, etc. A module 964 may determine aperiodic CSI reporting configuration for each cell configured for UE 120x. Module 960 may determine the PUCCH format for each subframe based onthe periodic CSI configurations for all cells, the CSI requests, etc.The various modules within base station 110 x may operate as describedabove. A scheduler 966 may schedule UEs for data transmission. Acontroller/processor 968 may direct the operation of various moduleswithin base station 110 x. A memory 970 may store data and program codesfor base station 110 x.

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of a design of a base station/eNB 110 yand a UE 120 y, which may be one of the base stations/eNBs and one ofthe UEs in FIG. 1. Base station 110 y may be equipped with T antennas1034 a through 1034 t, and UE 120 y may be equipped with R antennas 1052a through 1052 r, where in general T and R 1.

At base station 110 y, a transmit processor 1020 may receive data from adata source 1012 for one or more UEs, process (e.g., encode andmodulate) the data for each UE based on one or more MCSs selected forthat UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. Transmit processor 1020may also process control information (e.g., for downlink grants, uplinkgrants, CSI request, configuration messages, etc.) and provide controlsymbols. Processor 1020 may also generate reference symbols forreference signals. A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)processor 1030 may precode the data symbols, the control symbols, and/orthe reference symbols (if applicable) and may provide T output symbolstreams to T modulators (MOD) 1032 a through 1032 t. Each modulator 1032may process its output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain anoutput sample stream. Each modulator 1032 may further condition (e.g.,convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) its output samplestream to obtain a downlink signal. T downlink signals from modulators1032 a through 1032 t may be transmitted via T antennas 1034 a through1034 t, respectively.

At UE 120 y, antennas 1052 a through 1052 r may receive the downlinksignals from base station 110 y and/or other base stations and mayprovide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 1054 a through 1054 r,respectively. Each demodulator 1054 may condition (e.g., filter,amplify, downconvert, and digitize) its received signal to obtain inputsamples. Each demodulator 1054 may further process the input samples(e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 1056may obtain received symbols from all R demodulators 1054 a through 1054r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, andprovide detected symbols. A receive processor 1058 may process (e.g.,demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE120 y to a data sink 1060, and provide decoded control information to acontroller/processor 1080. A channel processor 1084 may measure thechannel response for different cells (e.g., carriers) based on referencesignals received on/from these cells and may determine CSI for each cellof interest.

On the uplink, at UE 120 y, a transmit processor 1064 may receive andprocess data from a data source 1062 and control information fromcontroller/processor 1080. The control information may comprise CSI(e.g., CQI, PMI, PTI, and/or RI), ACK/NACK, SR, etc. Processor 1064 mayalso generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. Thesymbols from transmit processor 1064 may be precoded by a TX MIMOprocessor 1066 if applicable, further processed by modulators 1054 athrough 1054 r (e.g., for SC-FDM, OFDM, etc.), and transmitted to basestation 110 y. At base station 110 y, the uplink signals from UE 120 yand other UEs may be received by antennas 1034, processed bydemodulators 1032, detected by a MIMO detector 1036 if applicable, andfurther processed by a receive processor 1038 to obtain decoded data andcontrol information sent by UE 120 y and other UEs. Processor 1038 mayprovide the decoded data to a data sink 1039 and the decoded controlinformation to controller/processor 1040.

Controllers/processors 1040 and 1080 may direct the operation at basestation 110 y and UE 120 y, respectively. Processor 1080 and/or otherprocessors and modules at UE 120 y may perform or direct process 700 inFIG. 7 and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.Processor 1040 and/or other processors and modules at base station 110 ymay perform or direct process 800 in FIG. 8 and/or other processes forthe techniques described herein. Memories 1042 and 1082 may store dataand program codes for base station 110 y and UE 120 y, respectively. Ascheduler 1044 may schedule UEs for data transmissions on the downlinkand/or uplink.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signalsmay be represented using any of a variety of different technologies andtechniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information,signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout theabove description may be represented by voltages, currents,electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields orparticles, or any combination thereof.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrativelogical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described inconnection with the disclosure herein may be implemented as electronichardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearlyillustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, variousillustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have beendescribed above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether suchfunctionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon theparticular application and design constraints imposed on the overallsystem. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality invarying ways for each particular application, but such implementationdecisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from thescope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits describedin connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performedwith a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmablegate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate ortransistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinationthereof designed to perform the functions described herein. Ageneral-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with thedisclosure herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a softwaremodule executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Asoftware module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory,EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, aCD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Anexemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that theprocessor can read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, theprocessor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in auser terminal.

In one or more exemplary designs, the functions described may beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof.If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on ortransmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computerstorage media and communication media including any medium thatfacilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Astorage media may be any available media that can be accessed by ageneral purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and notlimitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM,CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or othermagnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carryor store desired program code means in the form of instructions or datastructures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose orspecial-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purposeprocessor. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readablemedium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website,server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable,twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologiessuch as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiberoptic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such asinfrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium.Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc,optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray discwhere disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproducedata optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media.

The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable anyperson skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Variousmodifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may beapplied to other variations without departing from the scope of thedisclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to theexamples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widestscope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosedherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for wireless communication, comprising:identifying a plurality of cells for which to report channel stateinformation (CSI) by a user equipment (UE); determining a plurality ofcontrol channel formats to use to report the CSI for the plurality ofcells in a plurality of subframes; and reporting the CSI for theplurality of cells in the plurality of subframes based on the pluralityof control channel formats.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thedetermining the plurality of control channel formats comprises:determining a plurality of CSI reporting configurations for the UE forthe plurality of cells, determining CSI to report for the plurality ofcells in each of the plurality of subframes based on the plurality ofCSI reporting configurations, and ascertaining the plurality of controlchannel formats to use based on the CSI to report for the plurality ofcells in each of the plurality of subframes.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein a CSI reporting configuration for each of the plurality of cellsindicates a schedule of periodic reporting of at least one type of CSIfor the cell.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: ascertainingthe plurality of control channel formats to use based onacknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) for the plurality ofcells, or capacities of the plurality of control channel formats, or thenumber of cells configured for CSI reporting by the UE, or a combinationthereof.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: selecting a firstcontrol channel format in the plurality of control channel formats if atotal payload size for CSI to report in a subframe is less than athreshold, and selecting a second control channel format in theplurality of control channel formats if the total payload size for theCSI to report in the subframe is greater than the threshold.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: selecting a first control channelformat in the plurality of control channel formats if CSI is reportedfor only one cell, and selecting a second control channel format in theplurality of control channel formats if CSI is reported for at least twocells.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the reporting the CSI for theplurality of cells comprises: determining CSI to report for theplurality of cells in a subframe, determining a control channel formatto use in the subframe, and sending the CSI in the subframe based on thecontrol channel format.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the pluralityof cells correspond to a plurality of carriers configured for the UE. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of cells correspond to aplurality of transmitting entities selectable to transmit data to the UEfor coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission.
 10. The method of claim1, wherein the plurality of control channel formats are associated withat least two different capacities.
 11. The method of claim 1, whereinthe plurality of control channel formats include a first control channelformat for a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and a secondcontrol channel format for a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). 12.An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: means foridentifying a plurality of cells for which to report channel stateinformation (CSI) by a user equipment (UE); means for determining aplurality of control channel formats to use to report the CSI for theplurality of cells in a plurality of subframes; and means for reportingthe CSI for the plurality of cells in the plurality of subframes basedon the plurality of control channel formats.
 13. The apparatus of claim12, wherein the means for determining the plurality of control channelformats comprises: means for determining a plurality of CSI reportingconfigurations for the UE for the plurality of cells, means fordetermining CSI to report for the plurality of cells in each of theplurality of subframes based on the plurality of CSI reportingconfigurations, and means for ascertaining the plurality of controlchannel formats to use based on the CSI to report for the plurality ofcells in each of the plurality of subframes.
 14. The apparatus of claim12, further comprising: means for selecting a first control channelformat in the plurality of control channel formats if a total payloadsize for CSI to report in a subframe is less than a threshold, and meansfor selecting a second control channel format in the plurality ofcontrol channel formats if the total payload size for the CSI to reportin the subframe is greater than the threshold.
 15. The apparatus ofclaim 12, further comprising: means for selecting a first controlchannel format in the plurality of control channel formats if CSI isreported for only one cell, and means for selecting a second controlchannel format in the plurality of control channel formats if CSI isreported for at least two cells.
 16. The apparatus of claim 12, whereinthe means for reporting the CSI for the plurality of cells comprises:means for determining CSI to report for the plurality of cells in asubframe, means for determining a control channel format to use in thesubframe, and means for sending the CSI in the subframe based on thecontrol channel format.
 17. An apparatus for wireless communication,comprising: at least one processor configured to: identify a pluralityof cells for which to report channel state information (CSI) by a userequipment (UE); determine a plurality of control channel formats to useto report the CSI for the plurality of cells in a plurality ofsubframes; and report the CSI for the plurality of cells in theplurality of subframes based on the plurality of control channelformats.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to: determine a plurality of CSI reportingconfigurations for the UE for the plurality of cells, determine CSI toreport for the plurality of cells in each of the plurality of subframesbased on the plurality of CSI reporting configurations, and ascertainthe plurality of control channel formats to use based on the CSI toreport for the plurality of cells in each of the plurality of subframes.19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor isconfigured to: select a first control channel format in the plurality ofcontrol channel formats if a total payload size for CSI to report in asubframe is less than a threshold, and select a second control channelformat in the plurality of control channel formats if the total payloadsize for the CSI to report in the subframe is greater than thethreshold.
 20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to: select a first control channel format in theplurality of control channel formats if CSI is reported for only onecell, and select a second control channel format in the plurality ofcontrol channel formats if CSI is reported for at least two cells.